Mama Carol

I find myself alone when each day is through

Has it been scheduled yet?? I don't want to miss it, but want to go to the beach toward the end of the month. OK, so I'm a little selfish here.

I speak from experience when I say that nothing brings out "human nature" like property disputes or family money. BTDT.

You might want to consult a real estate attorney. I think there is something about the length of time that you use property and then the owner not being able to "complain" about it or contest it. the really good question is did the neighbor know that the garage and drive was on THEIR property when they bought or when the previous owner of your house built the garage and drive? I don't believe surveys are required in Ga or FL but they are ALWAYS a good idea. Often, a later survey will differ from one on record with the county. Does your current survey show the garage and drive to

If this is something you'll be doing more often, you might try Carolina boots. Hubby got some (about 4 pair) and he can wear them all day without a problem. No heel pain, no foot pain and it even helped with his back pain. He got the boots at the Army-Navy store near Kennestone Hospital.

You're close enough to hear them in Douglas County, too. They may have had a drill or somebody may have set it off accidently. I'm in Cobb, in fact really close to the fire station on Hiram Lithia Springs Road, but we didn't hear it. Our bedroom windows were open and we were at least partially awake around 8 a.m. so we would have heard them. Depending on the direction of the wind, we can hear them in Lithia Springs and in Austell. The again, maybe you're nuts.

Isn't this tornado preparedness week? Wait, they usually do the drill on Wednesday and this is Tuesday.

Couldn't agree more! I just about fell off the couch when the guy (Chris) said "well, he might be my boss someday".

I've always worked in small business and ALWAYS had employers like that. ALWAYS. It is nice to see big corporations do actually care about their employees. Years ago, my husband worked for a large, multi-national division of a larger multi-national company. The CEO sent flowers to all the wives of the guys attending a sales meeting. He personally signed all the cards and thanked the wives for their support of the husbands. The job involved about 90% travel, so it was like being a single mom but with a husband around part of the time. No jobs were scheduled for anyone the week of the

I generally don't cry over stuff like that but last night, OMG I was in tears. The CEO/COO of Roto-Rooter had me crying like a baby. When he gave the guy who coached the inner city basketball team a 15 person van so he and his wife could make sure the kids got to basketball practice and games AND gave the guy a promotion and a raise, I thought I was going to fall apart. THEN, he gave the single mom who has an autistic child money to catch up her mortgage and is having the company pay for specialized daycare for the child and I couldn't keep the tears back any longer. In fact, I'm misty-e

If you don't spend, you don't pay tax. Simple as that. Whether you spend cash, write checks or use debit/credit cards would have little impact. You spend money, you pay tax. Quite honestly, I believe that the Fair Tax would create more jobs, more incentive to earn and less chance to cheat. You wouldn't have to shield that little side job cash by slipping that money into your "magic pocket" (the one the IRS doesn't know about). You could have all the earnings and savings you want! No spend, no tax. Spend, tax. Earn, no tax. Spend, tax. Save, no tax. Spend, tax. There woul

Social Security/Medicare tax currently are a 7.65% combined. That is due to go up soon. Add to that 28% federal tax and that comes out to be 35.65% NOW. Add to those, 6 or 7% sales tax and ad valorem tax (on cars and property) and you're looking at the 45-50% neighborhood.

Couldn't agree more!! BTW, by the time you've done a hundred tax returns, you don't mind doing them again. Even the frustrating ones, the ones who aren't organized, the ones who wait until the last minute don't bother you much after the first hundred or so. As I said, I LOVE doing tax returns and doing accounting!

you should try doing them for a living. But it is something I

Kroger apparently offers a prepaid Visa debit card now. I am not sure of which locations have them, though. It is also a reloadable card. Try this: http://www.kpfprepaid.com/

Generally, a seller is supposed to be out by closing. Closings aren't "last minute" events, though. She would have plenty of notice. Incentives are pretty much standard for a seller now. However, if she can't afford to offer them or doesn't want to offer them, she needs to make her listing agent aware of that so he/she can pass that along to other agents and potential buyers. Your best bet for someone with dual connections in real estate (Texas and Georgia) would be to find one who is located in northern Florida, Florida Panhandle or southern Alabama. Many of the agents in thos

Off Oglesby/278/Hiram Lithia Springs. About halfway between the railyard and Sun Valley Beach. It was widespread! Must have been a transformer. Took out our street, the street behind us, Westridge subdivision and obviously more. It was out about an hour and a half best I can tell. It wasn't just us. Kudos to Greystone for getting it back on so quickly. They rock! I think our new power meters are supposed to report outages. At any rate, it was something big.

About 1:30 this morning I heard a loud boom and then the lights went out. Anyone else have a power failure early this a.m.? Or get up and realize that it was later than your clocks said it was? We have Greystone Power but the street behind us has Georgia Power. Their lights seemed to be off as well.

That explains the news helicopters we saw coming from that direction just a few minutes after 6.

I agree 100%. Add granddaughters in there, too. I love them to pieces. Nothing like having little arms reach up for you when you walk in the house.

my laptop. I fought getting one but when I got a really nasty virus back in December, we decided to get the laptop. Good business expense and since I was planning to travel with hubby a lot it seemed like a good move. It has a wireless connection and built-in webcam. I use it daily and love it. Can't live without it. Took it with me last week when we went to Florida and was able to use e-mail, Outlook and all my Realtor.com stuff comfortably and with familiarity. the only "item" other than my laptop that I use daily and love is the St. Ives facial scrub. I it.

Once you get used to it, far superior!

This wasn't a result of filling out a survey, but several years ago we were at Home Depot and filled out to get a quote on something (windows, I think). By the time we got home, we had a message waiting that my husband had won a prize. We thought "yeah, right. A tape measure maybe". Turned out to be a nice 5 piece battery powered tool set--flashlight, "Skil" saw and drill in a nice carry case.

Nope. Have a lot of plans for that $5000 Home Depot gift card, though.

Well, OF COURSE, the cable company wanted you to do their bill pay or do an auto draft. Do it through Suntrust, make it come out whatever day it is due (or the day you want it to come out) and best of all, doing it through the online bill pay with Suntrust it is FREE. It's rare that I write a check anymore. Just when I go to the doctor mostly. Everything else, I do it through the bill pay. BTW, some of the companies you will set up online you can also receive your bill online, all through the Suntrust bill pay interface.